Some institutions may configure classes to be viewed in real-time, while they are being taught. These are called LIVE classes. For Instructors, teaching a class that is being live-streamed should be the same as teaching one that is being recorded, except that there may be fewer students IN the classroom because they can watch remotely.
Watching a live class is nearly the same experience as a pre-recorded (or video on demand) class, regardless of your role. The main differences are:
- The video stream you are viewing cannot be rewound/fast-forwarded; it is happening in real-time. You can show/hide the stream, and you can mute the stream.
Due to your network connection speed, your live playback may fall behind real-time events (potentially becoming out of sync), in which case, a "catch up" button will become available. - Users can view the Live Attendance list to see who is actively viewing the Live Stream at the moment. The Live Attendance panel also lists all Instructors/TAs enrolled in the Section.
If you are an instructor, keep in mind that viewers' comments, questions, and discussion posts can be responded to in real-time during the live class/event. For this reason, you may want to have a teaching assistant, ace student, or other minion monitor the Questions panel for questions or comments from participants, and either answer them immediately in the panel or pass them on to the presenter/instructor to address during the live class as appropriate.
To access a live-streamed class:
- Click Courses from the top navigation bar.
Courses in the currently active term appear first, in alphabetical order.
If you enter Echo360 through an LMS/VLE, you may be able to skip this step as the link from your LMS/VLE typically puts you onto the Class List page shown in the next step.
-
Click on the course tile. This opens the class list, as shown below.
OR you may land on the class list page through the link in your LMS/VLE.
The live class appears with a LIVE badge next to the class name. If the class is happening now, the LIVE badge is green. This is shown for the Ad Hoc Capture class in the below figure.
- Click on the class row to enter the classroom.
- Click Show Live Stream from the bottom right of the classroom to see the stream (live streams will not auto-play). You can hide the stream at any time if necessary.
The player synchronizes dual-channel live classes, similar to the sync experience for VOD, in order to keep the streams coming in from each channel together. In general, the channels should be within 1-second of each other and will auto-correct to maintain synchronization.
NOTE that viewing live classes on mobile devices, using the native browser, is limited to a single channel even if the stream itself is dual-channel.
Students can click the Notes button to take notes while viewing the stream.
The instructor, an assistant instructor, or teaching assistant may want to open the Questions panel to monitor any discussion students are having about the live-streamed class. All entries and responses are retained for the class and will appear on the Q&A tab, as well as in the Questions panel when viewing the recording of this class later.
Click the Discussions button to close the panel if you need to.
Click the Live Attendance button to view attendees and/or Instructors as needed. Only registered users who are actively showing the Live Class will appear, anonymous users will be counted but NOT be visible in the attendance list.
Once the limit for tracking live attendance has been reached, the attendee list will no longer update in real-time, however, the attendance count will always be accurate.
The bottom of the classroom viewer has a control bar that shows you the catch-up button, show/hide stream button, current duration of the live stream, and view control buttons. The video icons (numbered 1 and 2) let you select which visual input to focus on in the viewer (if there is more than one).
The classroom toolbar across the top also allows you to navigate out of the classroom when finished.